Less waste, more fees

Mike Lee STAFF WRITER

San Diego's latest attempts to dramatically boost recycling could cost residents millions of dollars next year.

The City Council is expected to approve new fees and fee increases today for replacement garbage cans, self-hauled loads at the city's Miramar Landfill and a variety of administrative tasks starting in 2008.

Such actions are designed to offset some of the revenue that will be lost when more trash is recycled as a result of two recycling initiatives.

San Diego is one of the few cities in California that doesn't charge single-family residences for garbage pickup or recycling. As a result, its solid-waste programs rely heavily on money that haulers and others pay for dumping at Miramar Landfill.

Even if the proposed fee changes are enacted, the city's recycling and waste disposal accounts are projected to be $5.4 million in the red by 2010. That means residents likely will have to open their wallets wider in the future to cover the financial gap.

“The city loses money for each ton of material that is diverted away from the landfill. . . . That is what I think ultimately needs to be looked at,” said Tom Haynes at the city's Office of the Independent Budget Analyst.

Rising costs for basic city services are a recurring theme in San Diego, which in February raised sewer and water rates to upgrade neglected infrastructure.

The challenges with waste management are highlighted by two measures projected to divert more than 350,000 tons of recyclables from Miramar Landfill each year. That would raise the citywide recycling rate by roughly 7 percent. It also would cost San Diego about $12 million a year in lost revenues and increased expenses.

One initiative is an ordinance to force more recycling of construction and demolition debris. The City Council likely will approve the proposal today along with the related fee increases.

Last week, the council mandated recycling at most homes, businesses and special events. The requirements will phase in starting early next year.

The two recycling mandates should allow the city to avoid fines of $10,000 a day for failing to meet the state's trash-diversion goals. They also will extend the life of Miramar Landfill, which is scheduled to close as soon as 2011.

On the flip side, city officials said a jump in recycling would deplete two important funds that rely on garbage-related fees at the landfill. One of those accounts pays for curbside pickup of greenery and recyclables in San Diego. The other pays for services such as operating Miramar Landfill, monitoring the city's closed dumps and picking up after illegal dumpers.

Even without the new recycling mandates, the two funds would “go negative” in the next few years because they are not generating enough revenue to cover their costs, said Kip Sturdevan, a deputy director of the city's Environmental Services Department.

Fees paid into the accounts have not kept pace with inflation, gas prices or major expansions in service, Sturdevan said. Some charges have not been increased for more than a decade.

One set of fee increases the council will take up today concerns replacement and extra garbage cans for residents. San Diego has provided many of those for free or at a discount in recent years.

The city still would provide the first trash container to a new home for free, but additional cans would cost $70 each instead of $50.

Replacing the initial can, such as when one is stolen or broken, would cost up to $70 instead of being free. With some exceptions, the city also would charge $25 for delivering each trash can to a house.

Those changes are expected to generate about $1 million a year, based on estimates that most of the more than 300,000 garbage cans the city has given out since 1994 are at or near the end of their useful lives.

The second category of price increases is for self-hauled loads at Miramar Landfill. Currently, city residents pay $12 per load brought in a pickup – the same rate they have paid since the early 1990s. The fee would jump to $21 in 2008 and $30 in 2009.

The cost for each load carried in a car would rise from $5 to $11 starting next year.

The self-haul fee increases, along with new self-haul rates for noncity residents, would generate about $3 million a year by 2009.

In addition, officials have proposed increases for a variety of fees related to garbage service, such as special charges for handling dead animals, tree stumps and tires.

San Diego is moving in the right direction, said Steve South, president of the recycling and trash company EDCO.

“There is more work to be done, but I think there is a great deal of progress being made to stimulate more (recycling),” he said.

South said the city may need to devise a way to charge residents for recycling service and collection of green waste. Currently, it can't charge single-family homeowners for garbage collection under a 1919 law known as the People's Ordinance.

Online

For more information about San Diego's new recycling ordinances, visit recycleorelse.com